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Dirk R. Moore

A 7th-generation Texan, Dirk Moore’s early life was spent near the Texas Gulf Coast of eastern Harris County and later, after a move to the Brazoria County seat of Angleton, situated just inland of the Gulf Coast near the mouth of the Brazos River, Dirk graduated from Angleton High School, the Purple Pride of Brazoria County.

From there, Dirk enrolled as an Honors College student at University of Houston, graduating with a B.A. in English, and then proceeded to the University of Texas School of Law School, from where he graduated in 1998. During coursework under the legendary estate and probate expert Stanley Johanson, Dirk was drawn to estate planning and probate, not just as a challenging area of law but as a path by which he could truly help others find peace and prosperity for their family and future generations. As soon as he graduated, Dirk served clients in Houston who ranged from the generationally wealthy, for which Houston is renown, to middle income and the working poor who needed thoughtful, kindly estate planning services every bit as much as persons of wealth.

Dirk is Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, which designation he achieved in 2015. For decades, Dirk has counseled clients in planning for and managing inter-generational transfers of wealth while also minimizing tax consequences. Every position Dirk has held since law school has been dedicated primarily to estate planning and probate, serving a very diverse group of families and their businesses at every level of wealth, developing a vast understanding of many areas of law including not just basic probate and estate planning but third-party financing, complex real estate development, asset protection and taxation. Dirk’s experience includes representing business owners, high net-worth individuals, charities and corporate fiduciaries in a wide range of tax and estate planning matters, with an emphasis on estate planning and family wealth transfer. Such experience includes wide-ranging preparation of complex wills, trusts, and powers of attorney, health care planning, charitable gift planning, gift and estate tax compliance and planning, creation and transfer of interests in corporations and family limited partnerships, IRS audits, and marital agreements. Additionally, Dirk has extensive background in the representation of individual and corporate fiduciaries in contested and uncontested estate and trust administrations, probate proceedings, guardianship proceedings, tax returns, and funding of bequests.

Dirk’s initial professional experience involved working with clients of a privately held Houston based trust company to provide comprehensive financial planning and investment management, from the negotiation of employment agreements, to tax planning and retirement analysis, as well as personal cash flow and budgeting.

As his career advanced, Dirk split his time between estate planning and probate, as well as real estate and general business law. Practicing with a firm whose client base was heavily weighted to entrepreneurial small business owners, Dirk often found that clients preferred to have a single attorney who could handle all but the most specialized aspects of their various legal needs. Thus, in addition to the highly sophisticated and specialized estate planning and probate practice he developed, Dirk also has a wealth of experience representing real estate and corporate clients with regard to contract negotiations, business formations, acquisitions, financing arrangements and other needs in transactions from under $1 million to over $100 million. Dirk has at various points represented every side of business and real estate transactions, from borrowers to banks, to other lenders in a variety of commercial lending transactions, including construction, revolving, and permanent financing, buyers and sellers of retail shopping centers, airplane hangars, commercial assets, apartments, residential and commercial condominiums, medical facilities and acreage being developed for residential and commercial lots. Additionally, Dirk’s experience includes counseling clients on a wide range of strategic transactional matters, including formation and taxation of corporations, limited partnerships, limited liability companies, and joint ventures. For his business owning clients, his experience extends to all aspects of handling stock and asset purchases and negotiation of contracts and various agreements for ongoing business entities.

As with every Fowler Law Firm attorney, Dirk has a dedication to charitable service, including that part of his practice wherein he has worked with charitable organizations including receipt and structuring of gifts and examination of tax issues. While some transactions involved wealth in excess of one hundred million ($100,000,000.00), Dirk is quick to assure everyone he is equally comfortable with the smallest estates.

Committed to his family, Dirk’s spare time is devoted to his college sweet heart (also from Angleton Texas) and wife of 20 years, Julie Tarkington Moore and their twin daughters, Regan and Reese, and to their many pursuits and adventures. Dirk and Julie are proud sponsors of youth sports through the Lake Travis Youth Association (Softball 12U Fury) Julie, a recent Eanes ISD campus Teacher of the Year, has been instrumental in raising funds for the Candle Lighters (www.candle.org), a charitable outreach filling in the many unmet needs families address when a face with the heart wrenching challenges of childhood cancer. Additionally, they remain active in charitable fundraising and participation in fundraising events for Cystic Fibrosis.

Professional Licenses, Certifications & Certified Legal Specialties

Estate Planning and Probate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization: 2015
State Bar of Texas 1998 – Taxation Section and Real Estate, Probate, and Trust Law Section